UF promises to bring college graduations indoors

Daniel Smithson @DanielTSmithson

Monday

May 6, 2019 at 11:31 AMMay 6, 2019 at 6:29 PM

Campus-wide ceremony will remain in The Swamp, but individual colleges will celebrate under roof

A year to the day after a University of Florida graduation event stirred allegations of racism and prompted changes including moving festivities outdoors, a commencement ceremony Sunday was rained out, causing more backlash on social media from angry parents and students.

That backlash led to the university releasing a statement Monday afternoon, announcing its commitment to bringing all college graduation ceremonies, other than the university-wide commencement, indoors.

"We share the disappointment some of our students and their families felt on Sunday when rain and lightning led to the cancelation of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recognition ceremony in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium," wrote UF spokesman Steve Orlando in a statement. "We know how important that individual recognition is, and although it won’t make up for what happened on Sunday, we are committed to finding a way to hold all college recognition ceremonies indoors next May.”

Orlando said August and December graduation ceremonies also will be indoors.

The change comes a day after about 200 to 300 of 1,500 participating graduates weren't able to walk at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences graduate recognition ceremony. Instead, they were given the chance to have their name called and shake the hand of one of the college's deans for a quick photo opportunity in the stadium's concourse area.

Videos on social media show graduates dressed in their regalia walking in front of a cinder block wall with a Gators logo painted on it, briefly shaking their college dean David Richardson's hand and having their picture taken.

New York Times best-selling author Roxanne St. Claire, who had a daughter participating, lashed out on social media over the decision to hold an outdoor ceremony.

Hard to fathom that a top ten university like@UF would have an outdoor commencement with no weather backup plan. Because of your stupidity my daughter didn’t get to walk. How could you care so little for your students and families?#UFGRAD@UF_CLAS#brokenhearted

&mdash; Roxanne St. Claire (@roxannestclaire)May 5, 2019

"Hard to fathom that a top ten university like @UF would have an outdoor commencement with no weather backup plan," St. Claire's tweet read. "Because of your stupidity my daughter didn’t get to walk. How could you care so little for your students and families?"

Just curious,@PresidentFuchs, if your son or daughter were graduating today, would you have made the decision to hold commencement in the@UF stadium when we’ve known for a week that severe storms would ruin the event and deny us all the moment?#UFGRAD@UF_CLAS

&mdash; Roxanne St. Claire (@roxannestclaire)May 5, 2019

Twitter user and UF graduate Juan Fernandez tweeted at the university that he hopes the Sunday cancellation "serves as a wake up call to never have a graduation at the stadium."

"Thanks to your poor planning, my family never got to see me walk across the stage," Fernandez said.

This ceremony was the only graduation event in Ben Hill Griffin stadium this spring affected by inclement weather. Still, some UF students called for the resignation of UF Director of Commencements Stephanie McBride.

A petition, started by political science master's student Anthony Rojas, calls on UF President Kent Fuchs and university administration to demand McBride's resignation. It says UF students had warned McBride of their concerns inclement weather would disrupt graduation ceremonies if they were moved outside.

"We believe new leadership is needed now to truly ensure that UF commencement ceremonies move in the right direction for the future," the petition said.

Rojas said Monday he is aware UF President Kent Fuchs had a say in the scheduling of the colleges' individual ceremonies but the person who is in charge of implementing an executive order is often the one held accountable.

"We know this comes from President Fuchs' mind but the person who implements the order is the one who is held accountable," Rojas said. "(Fuchs) is untouchable at that university. Everything does run through him."

As of 5 p.m. Monday, the petition had more than 2,200 online signatures. Orlando did not respond to The Sun's message questioning Fuchs' role in commencement planning.

The decision was made last year to move some of Florida's commencement ceremonies to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, rather than solely using the Stephen C. O'Connell Center for graduations.

The move came after 24 students, many of color, were physically rushed across the stage in an aggressive manner at one of UF's spring graduations.

Some of the students were performing strolls associated with African-American fraternities and sororities, and the fallout drew national attention.

Five months later, UF announced a larger, university-wide commencement would take place in The Swamp, on the field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The commencement lacks the individual recognition of previous graduations but it'd be quicker for those attending, UF said.

Individual colleges put on their own ceremonies where students can be recognized individually. Colleges are responsible for coordinating their own ceremonies, Orlando said.

Sunday's event was the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences own ceremony, where students were recognized individually. The ceremony started just before 9 a.m. with the ceremony's processional, a lightning delay was announced at 10:30 a.m. and the event was canceled at 11 a.m. The 1,500-student ceremony was too big to be held anywhere on campus other than the stadium, Orlando said.

Rojas said late Monday afternoon he was relieved to hear that UF had planned to move graduation events indoors.

However, he said he was skeptical about UF's statement and wanted to see action before getting his hopes up.

"We have had instances before where UF promises us one thing and it ends up being not exactly what we want," he said. "We need to figure out how they're going to be restructuring this. In the past, it's been like they're going to do what they want and they don't care what we think. Students and families need their input to be accounted for."

Rojas said sub-par graduation ceremonies for students who have worked four years for a degree is unacceptable.

"People don't really grasp that these are kids who for four years put all their effort into this. For some, this is the pinnacle of their education," he said. "They might be the first student in their family to be graduating. The least (UF) can do is give them a graduation worthy of their accomplishments. That's what we've wanted from the start."

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